


May Contain Socrates.

by Tychon (hennethgalad)



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Rescue, sex on a small sailboat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:15:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25627312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hennethgalad/pseuds/Tychon
Summary: Alexios rescues Sostratos the handsome healer from being sold as a slave by bandits...
Relationships: Alexios/Sostratos
Kudos: 10





	May Contain Socrates.

They had been drinking all night, and as the sky grew pale, their singing grew soft, the changing light stirred memories and dreams, and Alexios sighed and threw back his wine. A grey-bearded merchant had come to the dockside, struggling to maintain his dignity in the heaving crowds of the Piraeus, and called for Alexios, and clasped his hands and given him a bag of drachmae "You saved my son! You saved him from the Followers of Ares! This is all I can spare, but no amount would ever be enough to repay you for the gift you have given us, Eagle Bearer!"  
The crew deserved to celebrate, and since they were as safe as anywhere could be in the harbour of Piraeus, he had sent wine on board for the watch and brought the whole crew ashore to drink the health of young Eubios, whose name, and face Alexios had completely forgotten. 

There was a stir by the entrance to the tavern, though the tavern was mostly open to the mild air, and only a gaudy hanging came between the drinkers and the still busy street. Cheers and laughter turned heads, the hanging was swept aside and Alkibiades struck a pose in the entrance. Alexios laughed, and Alkibiades snaked through the crowds, blowing kisses and sweeping up some wine which he drank down, and then threw his arms around Alexios, who laughed and tried to hold him off. But Alkibiades leaned close and hissed in his ear, in an urgent tone that sobered Alexios almost as much as his words.  
"Alexios, listen, we must talk! I have bad news, for you. Take me out in a little boat."  
Alexios stiffened, thinking of his mother, or the Cult, wondering what new threat or disaster loomed. But he felt the staring eyes, and threw his arm around Alkibiades, burped, and said loudly   
"Not here, you old hetaera! Come outside and I'll show you what you've been missing!"

Alkibiades sang as Alexios steered the little boat out into the harbour, gesturing to the whistles and obscene remarks from sailors on the many ships in dock as though to polite applause at the theatre. Alexios laughed, but it was not until they were out of earshot that Alkibiades patted the deck beside himself.  
"We shall have to give them a bit of a show, my dear, there can be only two reasons for me to seek you out, and I do not want anyone thinking that I'm setting you on them!"  
"You want me to fuck you in case your business associates get nervous?"  
"No darling, I want to you fuck me because I am irresistible. But I will settle for the other..."  
"First tell me the bad news you have. Is it my mother? The Cult?"  
"No no, nothing like that. Unless you really are in love with him, as everyone says."  
Alexios clenched his teeth, there was only one man in all Greece he had ever courted, and he had been unsuccessful. But he had never spoken of it to anyone...  
"Come darling, don’t be coy, everyone watches me, naturally, but you, who came from nowhere, are now the Eagle Bearer, and now everyone gossips about you too. Everyone knows you tried to woo the lovely Sostratos. Everyone says he may be the best looking man in the known world, why even I tried to..."  
"He turned you down too?"  
"I know! It’s unbelievable, isn’t it? He says he wants someone he can trust!"  
"But what has happened? Is he dead?"  
"He may be wishing he was. He has been taken by bandits. They have put him up for sale. They wanted ten thousand drachmae, but the bidding has reached twenty five."  
Alexios jerked upright, but Alkibiades laughed loudly, with cold, serious eyes "Lie down! You did not hear this from me! I know some of those bidders. If they ever decided to work together they would make the Cult look like children with wooden swords."  
"I must save him! Where is he?"  
"Wait! Listen! It will not be enough to save him; now that certain appetites have been whetted, they will not rest, and nor must you. Sostratos must disappear, Alexios, vanish without trace. Twenty five thousand drachmae, Alexios, and it may be rising. It almost certainly is..."  
"But he has been walking around freely all his life."  
"Yes, people never considered him as something that could be just taken. But he was gathering herbs on the shores of Kopias, and bandits, who were just prowling, took the chance and struck gold."  
"I must go at once! Every minute lost... by Zeus, those fucking bastards will not know what hit them, malakes godless sons of"  
But Alkibiades held up his hand "They have not harmed him, Alexios, he is naked, but he is in a cage, they are not touching him or the bidders would pay less. But if you can slip away today, then tonight..."  
"But where is he? You have not told me where he is!"  
"The Tower of Askre, on the western shore of Lake Kopias."  
Alexios frowned, the name was familiar, had he been there? Then it came back to him, the crumbling ruin high on a cliff, looking down across the lake, there had been bandits, and two dead trees, he would have liked to eat there, and enjoy the view, but the stench of the corpses left by the bandits had driven him away. He thought of poor Sostratos, alone in that foul place, facing an unspeakable future, and leaped up again, but Alkibides had a firm grip on him.  
"Now darling, not only do you want to fuck me because I am irresistible, now you want to fuck me out of gratitude, that I know your big secret, and that I care enough to help you save him."  
Alexios felt that strange mix of exasperation and desire that Alkibiades always provoked in him "Perhaps I should fuck you just to shut you up!"  
"By Eros, I thought you would never ask!"

The boat rocked so much he thought they’d both be thrown to Poseidon, but Alkibiades clung to the mast, wrapped his legs around Alexios and made as much noise as he could. Alexios abandoned himself to Eros, lost in the heat, while his mind returned to his ill-fated attempt to seduce Sostratos the Healer.  
He had spent two hundred drachmae... There had been three cooks, six musicians, a wagon load of flowers for garlands draped between the trees and bound into circlets for their hair. The wine! It had been the finest he had ever tasted, finer than Pericles own vintage, and there had been peaches that melted in the mouth. He had invited Hippokrates, and asked him to invite Sostratos, and tried to hide his disappointment when Hippokrates had turned up alone. But even Hippokrates had grasped that the finery was not in his honour, and had finally risen to his feet with a smile.   
"Well Alexios, I must leave you now, my poor apprentice has been busy all day while I take my ease here with you. Shall I send him along?"  
  
And Sostratos had come, in plain white, looking shy and ill at ease. Alexios thought of all the others who must love Sostratos as he did, and tried his best to be merely charming. But he could hear the hoarse intensity in his own voice, and see the discomfort in Sostratos eyes. Finally, feeling the distance between them and leaping into the unknown, he had spoken his thought.  
"I care for you, Sostratos. Do you not care for me?"  
"I... You are very handsome, Alexios, and so alive! You are the most vigorous man I know, not just because you seem to be everywhere at once! It’s something in you, some humour, that makes the air around you feel like a storm is coming. And you are the storm!   
But Alexios, I wish for love, I wish to return from my labours with Hippokrates to find my love awaiting me, and warming my bed every night. You would be away, and I would be alone, cold and alone."  
"Come away with me! Sail beside me, there are my crew to treat, and you will find patients in every port, standing in lines begging you for help."  
But Sostratos had smiled and shaken his head "I will not do battle. I could not bear it. It seems madness to me, people hacking each other to pieces, I do not see how the gods permit it. It must be cursed, destroying something so perfect and beautiful as the human form. I could not be a part of such madness.   
But you, if you would stay, well then..."  
"How can you say that! How can defending Athens from the Spartans be cursed? And how can you ask me to turn my back on Barnabas and the crew, and leave the Cult to destroy the world, and shirk my duty?"  
Sostratos had sighed and lowered his head, Alexios could see the shadow of his long eyelashes darken his brown skin, and felt the blood burning through his veins, as though he would boil over. He could scarcely breathe. In a low voice Sostratos said  
"I do not ask it of you. Why do you ask it of me?"  
"Because I love you!"  
Sostratos had risen to his feet, his fists clenching and unclenching "Really, it grows late, I must leave, thankyou for your kind hospitality..."  
But Alexios had risen too "Don’t tell me you feel nothing, I know you do."  
Sostratos had looked him full in the eyes "You tell me you love me but you do not know me, you do not even listen when I speak. Have I not asked you to stay with me?"  
Alexios had almost drowned as the light of the torches turned the eyes of his beloved to pools of warm gold. But he had been born a Spartan, and he could not permit his own feelings to triumph over him. He had remained silent then, his face, his body, his whole self still as stone, as Sostratos smiled sadly and turned away. Alexios had remained still, staring at the gaping emptiness where he had been, as the musicians played on unheard.

But after a time even Sostratos faded from his mind, and he was aware only of the silvery water, splashing cool drops on their hot skin, and the silvery hair of Alkibiades, soft and scented with rose oil, and the slim lithe body moving hard against him, answering his thrusts, as the familiar voice shouted "Yes! Oh yes!" over and over again, right in his ear. But when he arched his back, and gasped himself at the moment of oblivion, finally Alkibiades was quiet, and in the silence he heard cheers echo across the water and remembered that they had had an audience, again!

  
The moonlight silvered the skin of Sostratos, but the bars of the cage cast strange shadows, like wounds, the wounds on his spirit from four days in a cage at the mercy of his captors. It was the first time that Alexios had noticed the prisoner, and there was nearly always a prisoner. It was the first time he had cared for the person in the cage, and the hatred and fury rose within him like the wrath of Titans. Ikaros gave a warning cry, and Alexios wondered if it was his own wrath that he was being warned against.  
The dew settling on the grass beneath his hand seemed to cool and steady him, he breathed deeply. There were goats nearby, grazing peacefully, owls called in the trees beside him, and the soft wind was fresh from the glittering lake. One of the bandits was snoring, there were two asleep in the tent, two sitting by the fire and one standing watch, staring out into the darkness.  
Alexios moved like the wind in the grasses, sliding between the branches of the low bushes, crouched in the shadows. The guard was two paces away, one pace, the guard was above him. He moved like the plunging hawk, stabbing upwards, sharp and hard, feeling the body turn in an instant from the tension of the living to the swift collapse of the corpse. He caught the dead bandit before it hit the ground and carried it silently away to the nearest shadow and dumped it.   
Working his way round, sliding from shadow to shadow, he crouched beside the tent, calculating. He would only get one of them, he would be seen, which should he kill first? The hundreds of times he had been through this dance flickered through his mind, but in the end he went for the snoring man, the other sleeper would be drowsy, clumsy and unarmed, and he could finish them both off while the two by the fire were still wondering how he had passed the guard, and indeed, where the guard was.

It all went as he had supposed, the bandits were startled and clumsy, as cowardly as most, happy enough to give it out, but unable to take it. And as he was wiping the Spear on a blanket, a hesitant voice had sounded, incredulous with hope and choked with fear.  
"Alexios? Alexios the Eagle Bearer? It is I, Sostratos! I have been captured by these vile..."  
"Hush! Wait, I'm here to resucue you."  
"Oh Alexios! Oh praise the gods, I never dreamed that you... I never dared hope..."  
The lock took moments, and then Sostratos stumbled out of the cage into his arms and Alexios gripped him tightly and closed his eyes, seeming to draw breathe for the first time since he had heard the news.  
"Come, Phobos is near, let me take you to Hippokrates."  
"No! No, Alexios, take me anywhere, take me with you, if you will protect me, but do not take me where I am known! You do not know what these bastards had planned for me! Fat rich merchants rode up on mules to examine me like a prize dog, none deigned to address me personally. They merely spoke to that malaka" he nodded to one of the bandits "and asked what the bidding was. Oh Zeus, I wanted to die, I think I would have, I would have slain myself rather than endure the touch of those beasts."  
Alexios picked him up "Hush now, I will take you away, the Adrestia waits, I will protect you."  
Sostratos searched his face in the moonlight, and Alexios thought of the difference between the proud and confident Healer and this trembling shadow and felt his heart clench with pain and his throat tighten with pity. But as the tears spilled down the cheeks of the wretched Sostratos, his own eyes remained dry, for his hard childhood had driven the tears from him, or crushed that part of him so hard that he could not cry, though he willed it with all his heart. Sostratos seemed to half shake his head then, and closed his eyes, and laid his head down on Alexios' shoulder, and wept.   
Alexios whistled, but Phobos was there, snorting softly and stamping one foot.   
"Sostratos, can you stand? I have a cloak, here, let me wrap this around you. Would you like some water, a little wine?"  
"Oh Alexios, the gods will bless you for this, yes, water first, and then a little wine. Oh Zeus and Hera and all the gods will bless you, I cannot believe that the nightmare has ended, I fear that I shall wake up, still in that hellish cage, trying not to scream. The first time I screamed, they dragged me out of the cage, and bound my hands behind me, and took me up onto the hilltop there, and showed me the emptiness around me. I screamed again, in despair, but that was the last time."  
Alexios seemed to hear his words as if he had heard them before, but frowned merely, and drank some wine, as Sostratos took the water in shaking hands and drank and drank and drank.  
"Did they feed you? Are you hungry?"  
"They fed me, but I could not eat. I would not, even if I could have swallowed it, it would have felt like I had submitted, that I was eating with them as though all were well between us. I wanted the food to choke them!"  
Alexios unwrapped a loaf of bread "Here."  
"No, no, let us go! Let us leave this dreadful place at once!"

  
The dawn came brightly behind them, as Phobos hurtled south over Mount Helikon to where the Adrestia lay in shadow far below, one more light twinkling amidst the many lights of the port of Kreusis. Alexios drew the cloak over the face of Sostratos as they galloped through the sleeping town, sending chickens bursting into the air with loud protests; but though one guard shouted at them, few saw them, and none barred their way. Alexios slid from the exhausted Phobos and picked up the silent Sostratos and almost ran down the dock, hissing "Idaios! See to my horse! Barnabas, cast off! Quietly now!"  
Barnabas laughed "Quietly! After that heroic gallop! Quietly, by Hypnos! You have awoken the entire town with that wild gallop, you have awoken the whole of Boeotia! Quietly! Ha!"  
But even as the old man jested, the great ship turned smoothly in the grey water, the oars splashed and swished, and with barely a creak they floated away from the land, away from Boeotia, away from their past, and out to the beckoning sea.

  
Alexios slept like a child, or at least a child who had had a peaceful childhood. But Sostratos, even bathed and clothed, combed and barbered (Pylenor, whose father was a barber, boasted that he could shave them in a storm, and once Alexios had let him!) Sostratos merely picked at his breakfast in silence, his face grey with exhaustion, twitching at every sound. Alexios watched him carefully, and even Barnabas was quiet, frowning with pity, but Herodotos spoke softly, telling them old tales of forgotten wars, that none of them heeded.  
"Sostratos, I have a friend, we have a friend on Lemnos, and Barnabas has a nephew there. We could leave you there to..."  
"No! Please do not leave me!" Sostratos looked so frightened that Alexios held his hands up.  
"Please, be easy, I will not let anyone hurt you, so long as I live!"  
But Barnabas shook his head "Mikkos is no good, Alexios, all Greece knows you favour him. It would be the first place they search. And do not look like that, you know the songs they sing of the mighty Eagle Bearer!"  
"Barnabas is right, my friend, Lemnos is the first place they will look."  
Alexios smiled "You have not heard my plan. Barnabas, you are certain that the Adrestia is the fastest ship in the Aegean? That none can catch her?"  
Barnabas sat up straighter and looked proud, then patted and stroked the deck beside him "She was already the fastest before you came along, and with all the drachmae you've spent on her, now she’s unbeatable!"  
"How would it be if we follow the example of Achilles, and pray that no faster ship becomes our Hektor?"  
Barnabas looked baffled, but Sostratos said "Oh no..." as Herodotos smiled and said "A disguise!"  
But Barnabas was not stupid "You mean someone with your build and hair colour, wearing your armour, could be seen as the Adrestia hurries by, while you escort Sostratos to... But where will you go?"  
"No!" exclaimed Sostratos "I cannot let someone put themselves at risk on my account!"

But the others smiled, and Barnabas jumped to his feet "My crew, and you marines, our guest is worried about us! Are we afraid? Or do we laugh at risk, and pledge to protect him; for his own sake, for the commander's sake, and for the honour of the Adrestia?"  
And with one voice, marines, deck crew and rowers all cried "Auh!"  
Alexios smiled up at Barnabas, then looked proudly at Sostratos, smiling as encouragingly as he could, but Sostratos had tears in his eyes, and when he met the eyes of Alexios he covered his face. Alexios half rose to comfort him, but Barnabas caught his eye and slowly shook his head, and Alexios sank back down and was silent.  
Herodotos leaned forwards "I think your plan is a good one, I merely regret that I should stay aboard and keep up the disguise, rather than follow you. I would very much like to learn the thought of Hippokrates, and indeed your own, Sostratos the Healer! But where will you go?"  
Sostratos lifted his head at the calming sound of Herodotos' steady voice, and smiled at the compliment, Alexios felt his face lift into a smile himself, a smile of gratitude that warmed him to Herodotos as nothing in all their adventures had done before. The schemes he had been considering since first Alkibiades had told him the news came together in his mind like the strands of a rope.

"I have a plan. I will take Sostratos to Lemnos, but not to the house of Mikkos. I will hold the Ancient Stronghold. I have been considering it for some time, thinking that one day I might settle there, when all this is over. There is plenty of water, fine buildings, it is safe and strong, there are two tunnels, two! And that lovely cove, and the lagoon, and, yes, Mikkos is there and I am fond of him." He smiled at Sostratos, trying to say with his eyes that though he was fond of Mikkos, his heart belonged to Sostratos, but he could see that Sostratos was too troubled to consider such matters. For a moment, Alexios felt a deep coldness in his bones, the look on the face of Sostratos took him back to Taygetos, and he hung once more over the abyss, in the hand of the man he had been taught to call father.  
He understood then that he held the life of Sostratos in his hands, that Sostratos hung over the abyss, in terror and torment, and he longed to set him on solid ground.  
"But there is more!" He said quickly "It is my plan to invent a rich recluse, that nobody ever sees but his servants. Barnabas will tell a different story about him in every tavern from here to Pephka, he can say anything he likes, and let them argue!  
Some of the crew will enjoy a bit of shore leave, standing guard on dry land is much the same as standing watch on a ship. The rich recluse can offer a job to Mikkos, who will be delighted to have easier work in a nicer house. And I can stay with Sostratos until he feels safe enough, which I shall enjoy, since I have never had a holiday in my life. Phobos needs a rest, I need a rest, and the crew can take it in turns, resting and playing in the lagoon, or racing to and fro with Barnabas."

He turned to the astonished Sostratos and said apologetically "Though it might be better if I showed my face in Athens, or on one or two of the islands from time to time, just to keep the talk down."  
Sostratos shook his head slowly "I cannot believe the changes in fortune, it is too much. One day I am a Healer, respected and honoured, the next a beast in a cage, talked over with contempt. And today I have disappeared altogether, and an imaginary rich recluse has taken my place."  
"No" Herodotos said slowly "You do not see it, it is you who are the rich recluse, the rich recluse is real. You need do nothing, nothing but rest. Barnabas need only sail his beloved ship as fast as he likes, wherever he likes, and spend his evenings in taverns telling tall tales! Besides, people are used to Alexios sneaking around, vanishing, hiding and reappearing, that will carry on. I think the plan an excellent one. Indeed, I hope I may be permitted to become acquainted with the recluse, after all, I am even friends with the Eagle Bearer!"

It was two months before Sostratos felt safe enough to let Alexios leave for a few days. Alexios had had a bed put in the strongroom, while he himself slept in the outer room, with a grey wolf named Smoke that he had befriended on the hillside. Smoke sensed his mood like the good pack-animal he was, and followed Sostratos like a hairy shadow, sitting close beside him, on the hill, on the sand or at mealtimes under the awning, while Alexios watched the light play in his beloved's beautiful eyes. The trembling and tears were long past, though it was clear that Sostratos still had difficulty sleeping, and spoke very little when awake. But Alexios was used to silence, Ikaros was no conversationalist, and Barnabas tended to rambling anecdotes, or singing, and Alexios found that he was enjoying the peace and quiet without him. But in the evening, when those of the crew who were ashore and off duty gathered, and sang, he rarely saw Sostratos sing with them, and it was weeks before he first smiled again.  
But the night before Alexios planned to sail for Athens, to thank Alkibiades, Sostratos caught his arm "Let us dine alone this evening."  
Alexios felt his heart lurch, he held himself still, and in a moment smiled "It would be a pleasure. Shall I ask Odessa to play the flute nearby? She has become very good."  
"Yes, if you like, that would be..."

The torches were beginning to show bright against the fading sky. The birds were swirling round their favourite trees, calling goodnights, and settling out of the sky like dark snowflakes. The air was in the cool north, bringing a freshness after the heat of the day, and stirring the flames and setting them dancing, as it seemed, to the soft sounds of the flute drifting up from the lower terrace. Sostratos drank swiftly, smiling eagerly at Alexios, but Smoke was restless, and Alexios knew that the wolf felt the fear in his beloved, not only that he would not return, but of what might happen while he was away.  
"I must go, you do see that. Nobody has seen me for two months. People are beginning to boast of having killed me, so says Barnabas."  
"It isn’t that. I want to... I want you to sleep in... in my room, with... with me."

Alexios blinked and swallowed, feeling a heat that no wind could soothe, a heat that started deep within, that turned his blood to fire... But Sostratos was still only a shadow of himself, it would be barbaric to take advantage of his weakness. He thought of all his own sleepless nights, staring into the dark, trying to forget the sunlight on the smooth limbs of Sostratos, slicing cleanly through the shining water of the lagoon, or prostrate on a rug on the hot sand, as the blinding sunlight dried his skin, leaving droplets to roll across his flesh like tender fingers, tracing each contour and muscle...

In all that time he had been as kind as to a brother, in all that time he had given, he hoped, no hint of the storm of desire that wracked his spirit and burned away his flesh. He had to force himself to eat!  
And here was his heart's desire, looking at him with pleading eyes...  
But it was wrong, it was not the joyful blending of love, for it was not desire but fear that he could see in the eyes of Sostratos.  
"You are hurt, my dear, even I, a child from the streets of Kephallonia, can see that. I could comfort you, but you, we...   
No, now is not the time. Oh Sostratos, I don’t know the words, I only know what I feel. Of course I long to touch you, but to touch you Sostratos, apprentice of Hippokrates, not you Sostratos the frightened animal."  
Sostratos leaped to his feet "How dare you call me animal! I am a Healer! I am Sostratos, apprentice to the great Hippokrates! I..." he sagged "No... no, you are right. I can no longer call myself a healer. I cannot... I could not bear to touch, to even see a sick person. And so many of the sick are rich and fat, like those awful..." he grimaced and turned away, and sat slowly down with a sigh that choked Alexios.  
  
They were silent for a time, then with a sudden vivid clarity, the deep calm and endless patience of Socrates came to his thought, and he knew what to do.  
"Books!" he cried excitedly, and half rose himself, then sat back "I will bring you books! Being a Healer is not the only kind of wisdom, there are other ways to... to do things, I don’t know, I'm no scholar! But Socrates will know, I shall speak to him, and soon you will be yourself again, or even a newer, better self, and you will be grateful that I did not... that we... that we waited."  
Sostratos looked wonderingly at him "You... there is so much more to you than you seem to be. Your heart is wise, though you may not be learned like Hippokrates. Yes, some books would be... Perhaps Herodotos would find some for me? You need not trouble Socrates on my account, half of Greece brings its problems to him. But I... I am proud that you know him, and honoured that you would speak my name to him!"  
"Oh, well, I don’t know him, not really, I am not one of his friends, but we have a slight acquaintance, and we have helped each other from time to time..."

Sostratos smiled, and the heart of Alexios warmed as he smiled back, for there was a glimpse of the old Sostratos in the smile, eager and vigorous, forceful and practical. He laughed   
"Sostratos! Already your spirit returns! I will bring you every book in Athens if it will make you smile like that again! And perhaps an unknown young scholar or two, that no one will miss, to speak with when you have read them!"  
Sostratos laughed, and his laughter was as the lighting of lanterns which drives away the darkness.  
"Oh Alexios, I do feel a little more like myself. I think you are right, I need... I need to be doing something, to stop me from brooding over the... Well..."  
Alexios poured more wine "There is no hurry, my dear, some wounds take time to heal, ha, I should know! One of those malakes Cultists put a poisoned arrow through my leg muscle, and it still aches at times."  
"Oh? Which muscle? The upper or the lower?" and suddenly there was the Healer, brisk and professional. Alexios smiled.  
"Never mind that now! Another time. But tell me, is there anything else you would like from Athens, besides the collected wisdom of the known world?"  
Sostratos laughed, and with each laugh a little of the fear left his eyes, and a little of the tension eased from his tight shoulders. Alexios thought of the soothing hands of Mikkos, kneading the tension from his limbs.  
"By Apollo! Why did I not think of it before! Mikkos has gifted fingers, he can give you a massage! You will feel much better!"  
But Sostratos grimaced and looked away. Alexios frowned "You dislike Mikkos?"  
Sostratos lifted his chin proudly "I have no wish to join your... your harem!"  
Alexios laughed "My harem, that’s very funny, I haven’t touched a man for months, I had not seen Mikkos for months before we even came here! He knows that though I am fond of him, it is you I love. Indeed, I do not think he loves me himself, not as I hope you will come to. Harem!"  
Sostratos searched his eyes, then blinked "You are so... I don’t know... so overwhelming... But I think you are wrong about Mikkos, and though I am grateful for your kindness, I could not bear to be touched by someone who wishes me far away. Really, I couldn’t bear to be touched at all..." his eyes stared into nothingness, and his head seemed to shrink back into his body.   
Alexios pursed his lips, glad that he had refused the offer of bed. They could only come together as equals, they could only truly know each other if their hearts were open, if they were at ease, not like this.

Athens was its usual self, beautiful, noisy, and smelly, for as fast as wretched slaves cleared the dung, more was dropped on the streets, and the scent of frying oil, woodsmoke and thousands of people blended everywhere with the miasma.  
Socrates was in the agora with Alkibiades and a jostle of rich young men in their finery. Alexios sighed, glad that his armour was well-polished, and decided to stay at the back until the crowd thinned. But Alkibiades pounced on him at once.  
"The mighty Eagle Bearer! I've heard all about your adventures in Pephka! And here you are, rushing back to my side like the devoted little eagle you are!" and he slid an arm through Alexios' and eased him away from the crowd. Alexios scarcely had time to smile at Socrates before the crowd closed in around him again and the obscure talk resumed.

"Alkibiades! Did you miss me?"  
"Desperately, darling, it took three cavalrymen to console me! Ah! I thought I knew what riding was!"  
Alexios laughed "Truly, your sacrifices to Eros are a model of piety."  
"And what of you? What’s this I hear about a curly-haired Kretan?"  
"No doubt some of it is true. But I do not have your... piety."  
Alkibiades looked unusually serious "What? Not at all?"  
"It’s too soon. The... Kretan wants to study, to study anything, I came here to get him some books, as many as I can."  
"Books! By Eros and Aphrodite, this is not like you, misthios!"  
"You cannot see the statue of Athena, she towers over everything you do, but she is there. For me, she is a only a glint on the horizon as my ship hurries past."  
Alkibiades smiled wickedly "Yet here you are, docked!"  
Alexios pushed him with his shoulder "Oh Allie, it’s good to see you again! But where are we going?"  
"There is a friend of mine, his father has just passed away, his mother is long dead, he is an only child. His father left him nothing but debts" he paused significantly "And books. Young Pylenor loves the books, but fears that the creditors will demand his library. You could rescue them, take them to your Kretan and... well."  
"My Kretan fears becoming part of a harem."  
Alkibiades laughed "Persian luxury! But why bother keeping a harem, when the chase is everything?"

Alexios wondered for a moment, was that all he felt for Sostratos, the thrill of the chase? Had he refused him to merely prolong the game? But then he thought of the comfort he found in returning even to Mikkos, and remembered Sostratos' own words of cold beds, and knew that he was not like Alkibiades, that what he truly sought was home, a loving home.  
"But Alkibiades, do you never wish for someone who waits for you at home, the same someone each time?"  
Alkibiades frowned for a moment, then looked at him from a long distance away, or so it seemed "Neither of us really knows about home, do we my dear? But you still cherish the dream, whereas I, who have not spent my life skulking in the shrubbery, have seen too many unhappy homes to believe any longer."  
Alexios was silent for a moment, but there was a burst of laughter from the crowd around Socrates, and he felt his thought grow sharper and clearer "Wait wait, that’s not right! Socrates would say... Well, if you can even say 'unhappy homes', that means that you accept that there are happy homes.  
Really, you must be saying that you have seen happy homes, or else it would be like saying that water is wet. But home does not mean unhappy, except to those unlucky ones like you or I."  
"Very well, very well, I'm sure you’re right. But try not to be too smugly happy or people will begin to suspect."  
"Do they? What have you heard?"  
Alkibiades waved a dismissive hand "Oh, a hundred tall tales, but no, nobody knows anything. I've been stoutly defending my claim that you have been in Pephka, to the chagrin of the many misthios who've gone chasing after you!" he laughed "And even the tales of Barnabas' friend the rich recluse. But no, I do not hear the name Sostratos. I personally have told each bidder I could find that one of the others arranged the taking of Sostratos, to save the price and guarantee the prize. And really, apart from changing the name, that is what happened. The only thing that is wrong is that you have not docked the ship!"  
"Oh I will. Believe me. By Eros and Ahphrodite! But he is not himself, not yet. That’s why we want the books. Tell me of this Pylenor."

The house was small but well placed, Alexios looked thoughtfully at it, wondering if he should have a foothold in Athens... But there had been no money coming in while he sported on the sands with Sostratos, a house in Athens would have to wait.  
Pylenor was a plain young man with a stiff face, all his life seemed to be in his eyes, which peered closely at them   
"Alkibiades? What... Why are you here? And who... a misthios? I told them already I cannot pay until everything is sold! Zeus have mercy! They said there was no hurry!"  
But Alkibiades laughed and held up his hands.  
"Have no fear, Pylenor, this is the mighty Eagle Bearer, Alexios himself, but he has come on behalf of a... client... who wishes to purchase your library. The cargo is to be carried to his home in Pephka aboard the fastest, and strongest ship in the Aegean, the Adrestia."  
Alexios tried to keep the smile from his face, and looked Pylenor up and down "My client will need a librarian."  
Pylenor gaped at him "A... do you mean I could stay with my books? But Pephka!"  
Alkibiades laughed "You will not believe how fast the Adrestia sails. The journey there will be over before you have decided which rower to seduce!"  
Pylenor looked startled for a moment, then turned to Alexios  
"Take me, misthios, even I have heard of the mighty Eagle Bearer. And I know the books! At least let me meet your client and make my case to him, please!"  
"Oh, he will not trouble himself to meet you. But of course you must come, it was for that very purpose that I asked Alkibiades to introduce us. You know the books, and if you go down to the Piraeus, you will find Barnabas the captain, who will arrange the stowage."  
Pylenor clasped his hands in front of his chest, his eyes reddened but he did not weep, merely said hoarsely   
"My father will bless you for this, Hades cherish him..."

Alexios sipped his wine, half listening to Pylenor and Sostratos discussing the theories of Protagoras, whom he had seen, but never met. Odessa was playing the flute with some of the crew, and a couple of the villagers, one an excellent drummer. The music was as lively as the discussion, but he himself felt strangely still, rising straight as the evening smoke, up to the vast pale sky, with all of Lemnos like a green jewel in the shining sea that spread around him on all sides. Sostratos had warmed to Pylenor, at last able to speakhis mind fully. Alexios knew that if he himself wished to follow their words, to truly know Sostratos, he would have years of study ahead of him.  
But then he thought of his life, and wondered how Sostratos would fare, out in the wild, hunted, cold and wet, with no fire, much less no warm bed or smiling lover to bring comfort at the day's end.

The last of the sunlight gleamed brightly for a moment, shining on the lampstand, dazzling his eyes, and he thought of the words at the temple of Apollo "Know yourself". He felt lifted out of himself, freed from the endless chase, the endless grimness of the daily toil. His mind soared like Ikaros, boundless and clear. He thought of Athens, the heart of Greece, the very spirit of Greece, where democracy had begun; the only true freedom, the freedom to have a say in your destiny, to change leaders not by killing and death, but by the free choice of the people.  
A part of him felt regret that he had paid so little heed to the words of the philosophers. But he knew that if he had spent more time in the agora, or the study, he would not have been there for all those who had needed him, for all those prisoners he had released...  
He looked at Sostratos and found him smiling. Their eyes met, and suddenly Alexios knew that the time of healing, the time of waiting, was over. The world needed them both, the scholar of healing, and the doer of deeds, and they both knew it, and saw in each other what they lacked. They smiled together, as the smoke rose steadily into the still evening air.

But Pylenor was unused to drinking, and had become festive "But Sostratos, who are you anyway, where are you from?"

Sostratos laughed easily, and Alexios smiled at Pylenor, wondering at his own stupidity.... But he had asked nothing of Sostratos, offering only the still silence he would use to soothe a beast fresh from the wild, letting it sit close beside him and share warmth and comfort. But Sostratos seemed finally able to speak, at least of matters unconnected with his ordeal, and he answered Pylenor with a smile.

"I am from Epidauros, my eldest brother now holds the family farm. The house is tucked under the steep hillside, just along from the theatre."

"The home of Asklepios! Naturally you became a healer!"

Sostratos laughed "If that were true, then all of Epidauros would be filled with healers, and no one would pick the olives!"

Pylenor nodded, trying to look serious, but still smiling "Very true, very true. Oh I cannot be sensible today! I had thought myself reduced to copying speeches or doing accounts, and never seeing father’s books again, I had resigned myself to the distant dust of Pephka, and here I am on beautiful Lemnos! I... yet still, my father is dead..." he frowned down at his wine "But we were talking of you, Sostratos! Tell us your tale!"

Alexios widened his eyes for a moment, but Pylenor was not like Alkibiades, there was no purpose to his question save idle curiosity. Sostratos looked at Alexios and smiled "Well Pylenor, I'm sure Alexios wants to hear my story too, so I shall tell you what little there is. I have two brothers and a sister, and six nephews and neices. But they are all much older than I, and my father used to call me The Afterthought. So even my neices are older than I and joke about their Little Uncle. I had a happy childhood, I suppose, though I always dreamed of becoming a charioteer! But it is a cruel sport, my brother took me, at my mother’s request, to see the end of a race, and what happened afterwards. There was so much blood! Five horses were so badly injured that they had to be killed, and grooms were weeping, it was... So that is why I became a healer, rather than a charioteer."

But Alexios gazed at Sostratos, seeing him gripping the reins, high above the adoring crowds, his fine profile set on far horizons, his smooth hair flowing in the wind, his eyes shining, the sun glowing on his golden brown skin...

Pylenor spoke loudly "I said!" he burped, and looked appalled "Forgive me! I said have you ever raced a chariot, Alexios? I’ll wager you would win every race!"

Alexios blushed "Forgive me, I had a vision of Sostratos steering a chariot... No, no, it is not for me. Horses bear us on their back grudgingly, they hate to be bound to the cart, the wagon or even the chariot. But it would almost be worth it to see Sostratos with his hair flying out behind him, grinning with exhilaration..."

This time Sostratos blushed, and Pylenor held up his finger "Ah! Ah! Alkibiades told me about this. When you are alone with two men, and both are blushing, it is time to leave!" he rose unsteadily to his feet "Epidauros eh? Bound to become a healer, coming from Epidauros!" and bowed and swayed away.

But instead of the awkward silence that Alexios had expected, Sostratos looked at him with a closed smile and glowing eyes "Come, Alexios, for Barnabas has brought me a gift, and you must see it."

Alexios rose to his feet, his heart racing like a chariot, and followed Sostratos up the marble stairs to the outer room, and finally, for the first time, into Sostratos' own room. Sostratos smiled lopsidedly and gestured to the bed. 

But it was not the simple maple bed that Alexios had bought for Sostratos, this was the treasure of a king, a monstrous carven thing with beast's legs gilded at the feet, and carvings on the headboard of naked young men, bringing pleasure to each other in ways that even he himself had yet to try.

There was a tingling silence. Finally Sostratos said "Alkibiades sent him to get it. There was a small fight, but none of your crew were hurt badly. Barnabas says it’s a gift from him and the crew, he asked Alkibiades who had the best bed in the Aegean..."

"Malakes! I told him to stay on board, not to fight without me, he will give us away, you will be taken from me!"

"Alexios, you are not the only misthios in Greece, just as I am not the only healer. They had an easy victory, you have trained them well. You should be proud, and grateful. And indeed, the Adrestia making a raid again, well, if anything it’s a good thing."

Alexios tried to fight his anger, but heat of a different kind stirred his body into turmoil. He looked at Sostratos, opening his mouth to speak but finding no words.

But no words were needed, for Sostratos was in his arms, they were kissing, and for the first time since his stepfather had thrown him from a cliff, he felt the tears spill over. His lover’s lips were the wine he had sought all his life, his lover’s skin was as the warmth of the sun to one who has been kept in a dark cavern, and the scent of his lover was the very incense the gods would crave, could they but take flesh to find it. His hands moved in a frenzy over the long-watched flesh, at last tracing the lines that only water had travelled before, at last burying his fingers in the soft dark hair, hearing his own moaning.

Sostratos raised his head "Sh... Hush my love, come, let us disrobe, and lie down. Here in this grand setting, let us act as civilised men."

Alexios drew a deep breath and tried to steady himself, then threw off his clothes, and turned naked to Sostratos, who was neatly folding his tunic. Sostratos looked at the pile of clothes on the floor "Perhaps the child from Kephallonia is still here?"

But Alexios could hold himself back no longer, he swept up Sostratos and laid him on the bed, then pinned him down with his knee while he kissed him properly.

When Sostratos turned his head to draw in breath, Alexios kissed his throat and worked his way down, tasting the sweetest, saltiest flesh in the world, running his hands over the long smooth limbs as though to remind himself where to kiss next, licking the hard muscles as though feeding like a beast of prey. His hands moved round and down, onto buttocks made firm by the months of endless swimming in the lagoon and the cove. Sostratos arched his back as Alexios probed with his fingers, and Alexios smiled to himself, his lover was ready, it was really happening at last!

He took Sostratos in his mouth for a moment, and closed his eyes as Sostratos moaned; it had seemed unimaginable at times, after the Tower of Askre, that this could ever be possible, that Sostratos could ever heal. But hoarsely, in a voice heavy with desire, Sostratos moaned "Oh Alexios, I love you so much! Come now, let us..."

But Alexios moved slowly, turning his head to lick the thigh, and spread it open, then lifting himself up to silence Sostratos with a kiss, while he pressed himself, finally, after so long dreaming of the moment, deep into Sostratos, who pushed against him with closed eyes and open mouth, gasping faintly "Oh yes..."

Alexios lifted himself up onto his elbows and thrust hard, watching Sostratos, who opened his eyes, then smiled up "You must tell me you love me now"

"Tell you? Have I not shown you, in every way I could think of?"

"Do you fear words, man of deeds?"

Alexios gaped for a moment, then smiled "The child from Kephallonia has no manners! But the boy who would be a charioteer has no patience! Before long, I will be able to think of nothing else but my love for you, and you will hear the raw words torn from my heart." He smiled wickedly "You must kiss me now."

They moved together like the sinews of one body, their love blended in the very air between them, they became one creature, moving swiftly to that one moment of rapture; and to the delight of Sostratos, as the bliss turned their limbs to liquid flame, Alexios gasped, and in a tone that none had ever heard before, even Alexios himself, Alexios cried out in a strangled gasp

"I love you."


End file.
